That was the last damn place I’d expected him to say, but that didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was getting there and helping them both. I knew West—seeing Juno upset or whatever she was meant he needed help too. With his background, he didn’t do well in high-emotion situations; they made him shut down. But it sounded like he was actually holding it together okay. For now.
“On my way.” I shifted the SUV into reverse and pressed down on the gas pedal without looking behind me. “You okay?”
“Yes and no.” The tremor in his voice had me cursing under my breath. “We fucked up, Lang. We really screwed up.”
“How?” The tires screeched along the pavement, trying to get traction as I peeled out of the parking lot and turned the wheel toward Sips, the sign already in sight.
“Them, him. She saw them walking down the street and….” He trailed off, gasping for breath as if he was the one having a panic attack. “I think you just brought the reason she’s been hiding her past from us—hell, from everyone, I think—to Anchor Bay.”
My heart stopped before kicking back up again and banging against my chest. “It was my job.”
“But we both knew better, both thought it sounded shady as fuck. We should’ve pushed Brandon so she could’ve had some warning and not been caught off guard.” He paused. “What if she never trusts us again, Lang?”
The heartbreak in his tone had me sucking in a sharp breath and holding it. Not knowing how to respond to that—the idea of losing Juno’s trust had unfamiliar desperation welling inside me—I told him I’d be there soon, then hung up and focused on not hitting pedestrians in my race to them.
The alleys between a few of the brightly colored buildings weren’t big enough for a car, the narrow gaps mostly for the business owners to place their trash and accept walk-up deliveries. The tires all but smoked when I slammed on the brakes, the SUV coming to an abrupt halt directly in front of Sips, uncaring that I took up three spots in my hurry. The slam of the door echoed, followed by the pounding of my boots on the wooden walkway.
The stench of garbage mixed with the sweet scent of baked goods filled my nose the moment I turned the corner into the alley. Gaze bouncing, I searched the area for the two people who were responsible for my near-stroke-level blood pressure.
I was about to call West when he stepped out from behind a dumpster. I was already moving toward him before he finished waving at me. Stepping back around the metal bin, he dropped low, balancing on the balls of his feet in front of where Juno sat on the broken pavement, her back pressed to the brick building, holding both knees tightly to her chest.
Seeing her like that, curled up so small, like that could protect her, I understood the heartbreak in West’s tone on the phone.
The feisty woman who could hold her own with me verbally, put me in my place daily, had the balls and strength to take me down, was gone, and this trembling, small, terrified woman was left. She shifted, slowly lifting her head to peek up at me, lashes and cheeks wet from recent tears, before burying her face behind her knees once again.
She looked utterly destroyed.
“Juno.” Stopping beside West, I gripped his shoulder to help him up, allowing me to take his place. Kneeling, I ran a palm over her wild hair in slow, repetitive strokes. “Hey, shortcake, I need you to look at me.”
I bit the tip of my tongue, hating that in my moment of weakness, I let the nickname I’d been calling her in my head slip out.
Juno responded with something that I couldn’t understand with her face buried in her knees.
“You have to look up for me to understand you,” I admonished, giving a strand of her brown hair a slight tug.
Ever so slowly, she unfolded, her tear-streaked face tipping up until her aqua eyes met mine.
“I hate you. I hate you so much right now.”
I shot West a dirty look, knowing he was the one who told her exactly who brought the mysterious couple to Anchor Bay. The asshole just shrugged, his worried gaze locked on Juno.
“Why did you bring them here? Do you want me gone so badly that you’d dig into my shit past and bring the two people who?—”
I pressed the pad of my thumb against her lips to stop her.
“I don’t want you gone,” I said steadily. Her eyes narrowed. “And you don’t hate me.”
She huffed in annoyance, but a gleam shone in her gaze, warning me that I’d better watch out half a second too late.
“The fuck?” I jerked my thumb back and studied the slight teeth indentations. “You bit me.”
“You were silencing me.”
“You were accusing me,” I snapped.
“You brought the two people I ran from, desperate to leave them in my past, to my somewhat happy present.”
“I didn’t fucking know?—”
